John was the lone disciple in the palace of the high priest, witnessing the injustice, mockery, and cruelty before Pilate; the last one with whom the Lord spoke and on whom His eye rested before His death. He was the lone disciple to gaze upon the cross and witness the dying agonies; the first to look into the deserted tomb; the first of whom we are told that he believed the Lord had risen therefrom. The last survivor of the Apostolic band, he had the fullest opportunity to witness the fulfilment of prophecies of which he was a careful student and clear interpreter. He saw the sad close of the Jewish dispensation, and the glorious beginning of Christianity. He saw the Holy City overthrown, as Christ declared to Him on Olivet that it would be, and had a vision of the New Jerusalem of which the old was a consecrated type, at last profaned. Of the golden Apostolic chain he was the last link binding the Church to its Lord. He was the last known human kindred of the Son of Man. The last words of inspiration were spoken to and recorded by him. He was the latest prophet, historian, and Evangelist. One of the first to say, "I have seen the Messiah," he was the last to say, "I have seen the Lord." We have caught glimpses of St. John in the early days of Christianity, as a light and a pillar, a teacher and a guide. Sometimes for years together he has been hidden from our view, and then has emerged with a yet brighter halo around his head. We have watched him on a lonely isle gazing into heaven, beholding glories of which he gives us hints, but which he tells us he cannot fully describe. Because of his relation to the Lord, the fisher boy unknown beyond the hamlet of Bethsaida two thousand years ago is "spoken of" as truly as Mary of Bethany, whose memory he especially has made sacred and perpetual. Wherever the Gospel is preached he too is remembered, honored and loved. Because of his relation to the Lord, towns in lands of which he never knew, bear his name; in which people are taught by his words and inspired by his spirit. In them many a family is known by the name St. John. Rivers in their flow bear his name from generation to generation on earth, while he points men to the pure river "proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb," which was "showed" him in Patmos. Societies for fraternal fellowship and mutual helpfulness are called after him. St. John's day has a sacred place in the calendar. Many a rural chapel and stately city church are reminders of him. The richness of his graces, and the yet future of his saintly influence, are symbolized in the yet unfinished temple of surpassing grandeur in the City of New York,--"The Cathedral of St. John the Divine."